Method of selecting important digital images

ABSTRACT

A method for selecting important digital images in a collection of digital images, comprising: analyzing the digital images in the collection of digital images to identify one or more sets of similar digital images; identifying one or more sets of similar digital images having the largest number of similar digital images; selecting one or more digital images from the identified largest sets of similar digital images to be important digital images; and storing an indication of the selected important digital image in a processor accessible memory.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention pertains to the field of digital photography and moreparticularly to automatically selecting important digital images basedon similarity, quality, and appeal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of low cost and highquality digital capture devices such as digital cameras, personaldigital assistants (PDAs) and camera phones. Most of these devices arecapable of recording both still and motion digital images and many ofthese devices incorporate wireless network access, touch screeninterfaces, low cost internal, removable, and network accessible imagestorage, and various sensors to monitor the motion, orientation, andlocation of the device. These factors have enhanced the opportunitiesfor “picture taking” and reduced the effort and expense of photographyto the point where users are now amassing vast collections of digitalimages. As a result of this reduction of the cost, effort, andconvenience thresholds to capturing digital images, accessing importantimages within these collections has become increasing difficult due tothe sheer volume of content.

Various schemes have been developed for organizing collections ofdigital images and identifying important images within such collections,many of which rely on user actions to designate important images throughmeans such as: tagging individual images as “favorites”, “star ratingsystems”, or providing “meaningful comments” which are linked to theimages. These systems cannot identify important images unless the usermakes the effort to provide this information.

Another approach for identifying important images relies on automatedimage analysis algorithms to rank images based on aesthetic or technicalimage quality. Aesthetic image quality relates to the attractiveness ofan image to a human observer. Technical image quality ranking algorithmsrate images according to quantitative metrics such as colorfulness,exposure, sharpness and noise. Such automatic image quality evaluationmethods may not necessarily reflect the importance of a particular imageto a user. For example, the user may cherish an important image of anewborn, a pet, or a lost loved one, that may be poorly composed,monochromatic, underexposed, and slightly out of focus, which would beranked low by aesthetic and technical quality ranking algorithms.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,636 to Savakis, entitled “Method for automaticallydetecting digital images that are undesirable for placing in albums”teaches automatically determining an overall image quality parameter byassessing various technical image quality attributes (e.g., sharpness,contrast, noise, and exposure).

U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,139 to Cookingham et al., entitled “Method forassessing overall quality of digital images” teaches a methoddetermining a numerical representation of user perceived overall imagequality of a digital image. The method involves creating a digitalreference image series with each digital reference image having acorresponding numerical representation of overall image quality. Userinputs are collected while iteratively displaying a digital test imagein comparison with the digital reference images. The user inputs areanalyzed to infer a numerical representation of the overall imagequality of the digital test image.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,545 to Ray, entitled “Face detecting camera andmethod” teaches automatically assessing aesthetic image quality based onwhether detected faces are positioned in a location consistent with the“rule of thirds.”

Pre- and post-capture user interaction monitoring has also been used todetermine important images. Such approaches are based on the monitoringof user behavior, changes to user expressions, or changes to userphysiology while capturing, viewing, or utilizing images. Thesetechniques often involve additional devices such cameras to monitor,record, and analyze facial expressions or eye gaze or dilation, ordevices that monitor galvanic skin response (GSR), heart rate, breathingrate or the like. In other cases, user interaction with images ismonitored and recorded within the capture device to monitor userinteractions with the image capture device. For example, interactionwith the zoom control, exposure button, exposure modes and settings canbe monitored to determine the level of effort the user engaged in tocapture the image. Similarly post capture interaction, such as imagereview with a capture device's integrated display screen or after theimages have been transferred to a computer or printer, theseinteractions can be analyzed to determine via utilization models whichimages are important to users.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,620,270 to Matraszek et al., entitled “Method forcreating and using affective information in a digital imaging system”discloses a retrieval procedure for stored digital images based a user'saffective information. The affective information is obtained by a signaldetecting means representing an emotional reaction of the user to one ofthe stored digital images. Digital images are categorized based on theaffective information.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,742,083 to Fredlund et al., entitled “In-camera dudimage management,” teaches automatically determining a value index fromone or more of: user inputs to said camera during capture, usage of aparticular image record following capture, semantic image content of animage record, and user reactions to the image record. Image records areclassified into unacceptable image records having value indexes within apredetermined threshold and acceptable image records having respectivesaid value indexes beyond the pre-determined threshold.

What is required is a system to identify important images that does notrequire additional devices or sensors to monitor user behavior, is notlimited to generic aesthetic or quality standards, and does not placeany additional burdens on users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention represents a method for selecting importantdigital images in a collection of digital images, comprising:

using a processor to automatically analyze the digital images in thecollection of digital images to identify one or more sets of similardigital images;

identifying one or more sets of similar digital images having thelargest number of similar digital images;

using a processor to automatically select one or more digital imagesfrom the identified largest sets of similar digital images to beimportant digital images; and

storing an indication of the selected important digital image in aprocessor accessible memory.

This invention has the advantage that important digital images can beselected without any user intervention. The selected important digitalimages can be used for a wide variety of applications such as creatingphotographic products or sharing with other users.

It has the additional advantage that the selection of the importantdigital images is based on the identification of sets of similar digitalimages which takes advantage of the fact that photographers oftencapture multiple versions of important digital images.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high-level diagram showing the components of a system foridentifying one or more important digital images in a collection ofdigital images according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method for identifying one or moreimportant digital images in a collection of digital images according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a sample digital image collection;

FIG. 4 illustrates sets of similar digital images identified within thesample digital image collection of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates the largest sets of similar digital images identifiedwithin the sample digital image collection of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6A illustrates a sample graphical user interface highlighting animportant digital image within each of the largest sets of similardigital images;

FIG. 6B illustrates a sample graphical user interface highlightingimportant digital images exceeding a specified image quality thresholdwithin the largest sets of similar digital images;

FIG. 6C illustrates a sample graphical user interface highlightingimportant digital images within the largest sets of similar digitalimages, wherein different visual highlighters are used to indicatedifferent levels of importance;

FIG. 7 illustrates a sample graphical user interface for displaying theimportant digital images within a digital image collection, and visuallydepicting levels of importance;

FIG. 8 illustrates a sample graphical user interface for manuallychanging the level of importance of an important digital image; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a sample collage created using important digitalimages from a digital image collection.

It is to be understood that the attached drawings are for purposes ofillustrating the concepts of the invention and may not be to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, some embodiments of the present inventionwill be described in terms that would ordinarily be implemented assoftware programs. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize thatthe equivalent of such software may also be constructed in hardware.Because image manipulation algorithms and systems are well known, thepresent description will be directed in particular to algorithms andsystems forming part of, or cooperating more directly with, the methodin accordance with the present invention. Other aspects of suchalgorithms and systems, together with hardware and software forproducing and otherwise processing the image signals involved therewith,not specifically shown or described herein may be selected from suchsystems, algorithms, components, and elements known in the art. Giventhe system as described according to the invention in the following,software not specifically shown, suggested, or described herein that isuseful for implementation of the invention is conventional and withinthe ordinary skill in such arts.

The invention is inclusive of combinations of the embodiments describedherein. References to “a particular embodiment” and the like refer tofeatures that are present in at least one embodiment of the invention.Separate references to “an embodiment” or “particular embodiments” orthe like do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or embodiments;however, such embodiments are not mutually exclusive, unless soindicated or as are readily apparent to one of skill in the art. The useof singular or plural in referring to the “method” or “methods” and thelike is not limiting. It should be noted that, unless otherwiseexplicitly noted or required by context, the word “or” is used in thisdisclosure in a non-exclusive sense.

The phrase, “digital image”, as used herein, refers to any digitalimage, such as a digital still image or a digital video. Digital videosare generally composed of a plurality of video frames, each of which canalso be treated as an individual digital image.

FIG. 1 is a high-level diagram showing the components of a system foridentifying important digital image in a collection of digital imagesaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includesa data processing system 110, a peripheral system 120, a user interfacesystem 130, and a data storage system 140. The peripheral system 120,the user interface system 130 and the data storage system 140 arecommunicatively connected to the data processing system 110.

The data processing system 110 includes one or more data processingdevices that implement the processes of the various embodiments of thepresent invention, including the example processes described herein. Thephrases “data processing device” or “data processor” are intended toinclude any data processing device, such as a central processing unit(“CPU”), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mainframe computer, apersonal digital assistant, a Blackberry™, a digital camera, cellularphone, or any other device for processing data, managing data, orhandling data, whether implemented with electrical, magnetic, optical,biological components, or otherwise.

The data storage system 140 includes one or more processor-accessiblememories configured to store information, including the informationneeded to execute the processes of the various embodiments of thepresent invention, including the example processes described herein. Thedata storage system 140 may be a distributed processor-accessible memorysystem including multiple processor-accessible memories communicativelyconnected to the data processing system 110 via a plurality of computersor devices. On the other hand, the data storage system 140 need not be adistributed processor-accessible memory system and, consequently, mayinclude one or more processor-accessible memories located within asingle data processor or device.

The phrase “processor-accessible memory” is intended to include anyprocessor-accessible data storage device, whether volatile ornonvolatile, electronic, magnetic, optical, or otherwise, including butnot limited to, registers, floppy disks, hard disks, Compact Discs,DVDs, flash memories, ROMs, and RAMs.

The phrase “communicatively connected” is intended to include any typeof connection, whether wired or wireless, between devices, dataprocessors, or programs in which data may be communicated. The phrase“communicatively connected” is intended to include a connection betweendevices or programs within a single data processor, a connection betweendevices or programs located in different data processors, and aconnection between devices not located in data processors at all. Inthis regard, although the data storage system 140 is shown separatelyfrom the data processing system 110, one skilled in the art willappreciate that the data storage system 140 may be stored completely orpartially within the data processing system 110. Further in this regard,although the peripheral system 120 and the user interface system 130 areshown separately from the data processing system 110, one skilled in theart will appreciate that one or both of such systems may be storedcompletely or partially within the data processing system 110.

The peripheral system 120 may include one or more devices configured toprovide digital content records to the data processing system 110. Forexample, the peripheral system 120 may include digital still cameras,digital video cameras, cellular phones, or other data processors. Thedata processing system 110, upon receipt of digital content records froma device in the peripheral system 120, may store such digital contentrecords in the data storage system 140.

The user interface system 130 may include a mouse, a keyboard, anothercomputer, or any device or combination of devices from which data isinput to the data processing system 110. In this regard, although theperipheral system 120 is shown separately from the user interface system130, the peripheral system 120 may be included as part of the userinterface system 130.

The user interface system 130 also may include a display device, aprocessor-accessible memory, or any device or combination of devices towhich data is output by the data processing system 110. In this regard,if the user interface system 130 includes a processor-accessible memory,such memory may be part of the data storage system 140 even though theuser interface system 130 and the data storage system 140 are shownseparately in FIG. 1.

The present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. Inthe illustrated embodiment, an identify similar images step 205 isexecuted by the data processing system 110 (FIG. 1) to identify sets ofsimilar digital images 210 from a digital image collection 200 stored onthe data storage system 140 (FIG. 1). The present invention takesadvantage of the fact that when a photographer captures importantdigital images, they often capture more than one image. For example, thephotographer may take multiple photographs of a family portrait in orderto capture one where all of the subjects are smiling and have their eyesopen. Similarly, if the photographer is capturing images of a beautifulsunset scene, he/she will often capture multiple versions to make surethey get a good image.

The identify similar images step 205 can use any method known in the artto assess image similarity. In the context of the present invention,image similarity can be based on various features such as visualsimilarity (i.e., similarity in visual appearance), image classificationsimilarity, event clustering, capture location similarity, capture timesimilarity, capture sequence order, or recurring time intervals.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, image similarity isbased, at least in part, on visual similarity between the digitalimages. Any method for determining visual similarity can be used inaccordance with the present invention. For example, commonly-assignedU.S. Pat. No. 6,826,316 to Luo et al., entitled “System and method fordetermining image similarity,” which is incorporated herein byreference, describes a visual similarity algorithm that can be used inaccordance with the present invention.

Image classification similarity can be determined by classifying imagesbased on features such as scene type (e.g., beach, sunset), event type(e.g., birthday, wedding, vacation), location type (e.g., museum,playground), object type (e.g., animal, boat, flower) or personidentification. Any method for image classification known in the art canbe used in accordance with the present invention. Exemplary details ofimage classifiers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,317 entitled“Method for automatic determination of main subjects in photographicimages;” U.S. Pat. No. 6,697,502 entitled “Image processing method fordetecting human figures in a digital image assets;” U.S. Pat. No.6,504,951 entitled “Method for Detecting Sky in Images;” U.S. PatentApplication Publication 2004/003746 entitled “Method for DetectingObjects in Digital image assets;” U.S. Patent Application Publication2005/0105775 entitled “Method of Using Temporal Context for ImageClassification;” and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0105776entitled “Method for Semantic Scene Classification Using Camera Metadataand Content-based Cues.” and

An “event” cluster corresponds to a group of digital images associatedwith a particular event such as a birthday, holiday gathering orvacation. Any method for event classification known in the art can beused in accordance with the present invention. For example, eventclustering algorithms are described in detail in commonly assigned U.S.Pat. No. 6,606,411 entitled “A method for Automatically ClassifyingImages Into Events,” and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,556,entitled “A Method for Automatically Comparing Content of Images forClassification Into Events.”

Capture time similarity and capture location similarity can bedetermined using any method known in the art. For example, sets ofdigital images that are captured at capture locations within apredefined distance of each other (e.g., as determined by a globalpositioning system sensor) can be designated to be similar digitalimages. Likewise, sets of digital images that are captured within apredefined capture time range (e.g., ten minutes) can be designated tobe similar digital images.

In some cases, reliable capture times may not be available (e.g., if theimages have been edited using software that did not preserve the capturetime metadata). In this case, capture sequence order can often beinferred from file names which include an image number designation (e.g.“100_(—)0364.jpg”). The capture sequence order can provide importantclues to identifying sets of similar images.

In some embodiments, images falling within a specified time interval(e.g., the time interval corresponding to a family picnic) can bedesignated to be similar digital images. Similarly, images that arecaptured at specified recurring time intervals (e.g., annual events suchas holidays, birthdays and summer vacations) can also be candidates forcollecting into sets of similar digital images. For example, many imagecollections contain photos of a birthday cake on a child's birthday eachyear; such digital images can be designated to be a set of similardigital images.

In some embodiments, multiple image similarity criteria can be combinedto determine the sets of similar digital images 210. For example, anevent clustering algorithm can be used to form clusters of digitalimages corresponding to different events. The digital images within eachevent cluster can then be analyzed according to visual similarity todetermine the sets of similar digital images 210. Alternately, aplurality of image similarity criterion (e.g., visual similarity,capture location similarity, and capture time similarity) can becombined to form a single image similarity metric by computing aweighted combination of the different image similarity criterion.

After the sets of similar digital images 210 have been identified, anidentify largest sets step 215 is executed by the data processing system110 (FIG. 1) to identify largest sets of similar digital images 220. Insome embodiments, the identify largest sets step 215 can identify setsof similar digital images 210 including more than a predefined thresholdnumber of digital images (e.g., 3). Alternately, the identify largestsets step 215 can adaptively adjust the threshold number of digitalimages in order to obtain a number of largest sets of similar digitalimages 220 that falls within some target range

The data processing system 110 (FIG. 1) then executes an evaluate imagequality step 225 to assess the image quality of the digital images ineach of the largest sets of similar digital images 220. In the contextof the present invention, image quality may be based on metrics relatedto features such as aesthetic image quality, facial presentation,quantitative image attributes (e.g., sharpness, image noise, imagecolorfulness, image contrast), social relationships between personsincluded in a digital image and a reference individual, utilizationpatterns for the digital image (e.g., number of times an image has beenprinted, viewed, shared, uploaded to social networking web sites, etc.),user-designated ratings (e.g., a favorites tag or a high star ratingsuch as five out of five stars) or other image quality metrics known tothose skilled in the art.

The aesthetic quality of a digital image can be estimated using anymethod known in the art. In some embodiments, aesthetic quality can beestimated by considering factors such whether the presentation (e.g.,size and location) of any faces detected in the digital image followaccepted composition rules (e.g., the “rule of thirds”). One method forautomatically estimating the aesthetic quality of digital images thatcan be used in accordance with the present invention is taught incommonly-assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/566,706, to Cerosaletti, et al., entitled “Estimating aestheticquality of digital images,” which is incorporated herein by reference.This method estimates an aesthetic quality parameter by evaluating imagefeatures related to people, vanishing points, and color and structure. Amethod for estimating aesthetic image quality based on facialpresentation is described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,545to Ray.

Any method known in the art for determining quantitative image qualityattributes can be used in accordance with the present invention. Forexample, the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,636 to Savakis teachesautomatically determining an overall image quality parameter byassessing various technical image quality attributes (e.g., sharpness,contrast, noise, and exposure).

Digital images containing persons that are closely related to areference individual (e.g., children, parents, siblings or closefriends) are generally considered to be of higher importance to thereference individual. Therefore, for cases where the identity of personsin digital images are known (e.g., by using automatic face recognitionor by manual identification), the social relationship between theindividuals can be used as an indication of “image quality” or “imageimportance.” Higher weight can be given depending on the closeness ofthe social relationship.

Digital images that a user has utilized for various purposes (e.g.,viewing, printing, sharing or uploading) are likely to be of higherimportance to the user than digital images that have never beenutilized. Therefore, image utilization patterns (e.g., the number oftimes that a particular digital image has been utilized) can be used asan indication of “image quality” or “image importance.” In someembodiments, certain usages (e.g., printing or sharing) can be weightedmore heavily than other usages (e.g., viewing).

In some cases, user-designated ratings may be available for some or allof the digital images in the digital image collection 200. For example,a user can be provided with a mechanism to tag a set of images as“favorites” or to rate digital images using a “star rating.” Suchinformation can be used to provide important information about theimportance of the digital images to the user.

In some embodiments, only a single image quality criterion can beevaluated to estimate the image quality of the digital images in thelargest sets of digital images 220. In other embodiments, multiple imagequality criteria can be combined to estimate the image quality. Forexample, a weighted combination can be used to combine an aestheticimage quality value, a quantitative image quality value and autilization pattern quality value.

After the evaluate image quality step 225, the data processing system110 (FIG. 1) executes a select important digital images step 230. In thecontext of the present invention, the select important digital imagesstep 230 identifies one or more important digital images 235 from thelargest sets of similar digital images 220 responsive to the determinedimage quality values. In a preferred embodiment, the select importantdigital images step 230 selects the digital image from each of thelargest sets of similar digital images 220 having the highest imagequality value to be designated as important digital images 235.

In some embodiments, any digital images having an image quality valueless than a threshold image quality level are excluded from theimportant digital images 235. The threshold image quality level can bepredefined, or can be adjusted adaptively such that the importantdigital images 235 include a desired number of digital images.

In other embodiments, the select important digital images step 230selects the digital images from the largest sets of similar digitalimages by comparing the image quality value for each image to athreshold image quality level. (As discussed above, the threshold imagequality level can be predefined, or can be determined adaptively suchthat the important digital images 235 include a specified number ofdigital images.) With this approach, more than one digital image can beselected from particular largest sets of similar digital images if thosesets of similar digital images contain multiple digital images having ahigh image quality level, while no digital images may be selected fromother sets of similar digital images. Variations of this embodiment caninvolve applying additional criteria. For example, in addition to havingan image quality value that exceeds the threshold image quality level,it can be required that the selected important digital images aresignificantly different in visual appearance.

Once the important digital images 235 have been identified, the dataprocessing system 110 (FIG. 1) executes a store important digital imagesstep 240 to store an indication of the selected important digital image235 to the data storage system 140 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, thestore important digital images step 240 stores copies of the actualdigital image files in a designated storage location. In otherembodiments, the store important digital images step 240 storesinformation identifying the important digital images 235. For example,the store important digital images step 240 can store a list offilenames for the important digital image 235.

In some embodiments, in addition to storing and indication of theselected important digital image 235, the store important digital imagesstep 240 also stores information about the relative importance of theimportant digital images 235. For example, the image quality value (orsome other measure of relative importance) associated with a particulardigital image can be stored as metadata within the digital image itself(e.g., as part of header in an EXIF image file), as an object in adatabase (e.g., in a relational database), or via any other storagemechanism known to those skilled in the art.

In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of using oneor more of the selected important digital images 235 to create aphotographic product such as a digital slide show, a photo album, aphoto calendar or a photo collage. A digital slide show could bepresented on a digital picture frame, a living room entertainment device(e.g., for display on a television), or a photo sharing website. A photoalbum could be a printed album or a soft copy album. A photo collagecould be used for many applications. For example, the photo collage canbe printed and framed, used to fabricate photographic products such asmouse pads or coffee mugs, used for a computer screen background, orused as a cover for a CD/DVD jewel case. The photo collage can also beused as a page in a photo album or a photo calendar.

In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of sharing theselected important digital images 235 on a social network or aphoto-sharing website such as Facebook, Flickr or Kodak Gallery. Inanother embodiment, the method further includes the step of writeprotecting the selected important digital images 235 to prevent themfrom being deleted.

In another embodiment of the invention, the set of selected importantdigital images 235 may be further evaluated to assess the relativelevels of importance. Such levels of importance could then be used, forexample, to identify a single image or a collage of a few of the highestquality digital images for the cover of a photo album or DVD case; or toidentify which digital images should be emphasized (e.g., displayedlarger) in a photographic product produced using the selected importantdigital images 235; or to identify which digital images could be used asnavigational icons in a graphical user interface (GUI) for browsing thedigital image collection 200.

FIGS. 3-8 provide examples of applying the method of the presentinvention to a digital image collection 200. FIG. 3 shows a samplegraphical user interface (GUI) 300 for viewing a digital imagecollection 200 on a soft copy display. The GUI 300 includes a scrollablegrid of thumbnails for digital images 310. A scroll bar 320 allows auser to scroll through the digital image collection 200.

FIG. 4 shows a sample GUI 400 for displaying sets of similar digitalimages 210 determined by applying the identify similar images step 205(FIG. 2) to the digital image collection 200 of FIG. 3. The sets ofsimilar digital images 210 each contain a plurality of digital images310 that have a high level of image similarity.

FIG. 5 shows a sample GUI 500 for displaying only the largest sets ofsimilar digital images 220 from a digital image collection 200 of FIG.3. In this case, only the sets of similar digital images 210 in FIG. 4that include at least 3 digital images 310 are identified as largestsets of similar digital images 220.

FIG. 6A shows a sample GUI 600 for displaying the largest sets ofsimilar digital images 220 where the important digital images 235determined with the select important digital images step 230 (FIG. 2)are highlighted with an outline feature. In this example, a singleimportant digital image 235 is selected from each largest set of similardigital images 220. The GUI 600 allows users to easily see the importantdigital images 235 within the context of the largest sets of similardigital images 220. In some embodiments, the user can be allowed tooverride the automatically selected important digital images 235 bydesignating alternative (or additional) important digital images 235.For example, the GUI 600 can be designed such that “clicking” on aparticular digital image 310 toggles it between being included orexcluded from the important digital images 235.

FIG. 6B shows a GUI 610 corresponding to a modified version of FIG. 6A.In this case, the constraint is removed that a single important digitalimage 235 is selected for each of the largest sets of digital images220. For example, the important digital images 235 can be selected bycomparing their associated image quality value to a particular imagequality threshold subject to an image similarity criterion as wasdiscussed earlier. It can be seen that the GUI 610 includes someexamples of sets of similar digital images 630 that contain more thanone important digital images 235, as well as other sets of similardigital images 640 that contain no important images. By viewing theautomatically selected important digital image 235 within the context oftheir associated largest sets of similar digital images 220, users canbe given the opportunity to visually confirm whether or not they agreewith the selected important digital image 235. As with the example shownin FIG. 6A, the GUI 610 of FIG. 6B can include interactive elements thatallow users to easily deselect any automatically selected importantdigital image 235 or select an alternative digital image 310 to be animportant digital image 235.

FIG. 6C shows a modified version of FIG. 6B where the GUI 620 includesGUI elements to visually distinguish between levels of importance forthe important digital images 235. For example in FIG. 6C, a dashedrectangle is used to indicate emphasis images 665, while a doublerectangle indicates the best-in-set image 675. In this example,important digital images 235 that contain people are marked as emphasisimages 665 and the image containing people rated as having the highestlevel of importance is identified as the best-in-set image 675. (Aperson can be detected in an important digital image 235 using anymethod known in the art. For example, a person can be detected byautomatic means such as face recognition, or by manual means such asmanual tagging.) Although in this example, the emphasis images 665 andthe best-in-set image 675 were determined based on the presence ofpeople, other factors such as image quality or social relationship to areference individual could also be used to designate these images.

FIG. 7 shows another example of a GUI 700, this one displaying only theimportant digital images 235. Similar to FIG. 6C, emphasis images 665are indicated with a dashed border and a best-in-set image 675 isindicated with a double line border. Showing only the important digitalimages 235 facilitates the ability to sort the list of important digitalimages 235 by user-specified criteria. For example, the sequence inwhich the important digital images are displayed may be based on rankorder of importance, time, themes, or any other vector of metadata ofinterest to the user.

Similar to FIG. 7, FIG. 8 shows a GUI 800 displaying only the importantdigital images 235. In this case, the GUI 800 also includes GUI elementsfor manually changing the level of importance of an important digitalimage 235. The zoomed-in view 810 of the best-in-set image 675 shows aset of radio buttons 820 that can be used to change the level ofimportance of a given important digital image 235. A user can simplyclick on the radio button of the desired level of importance to set thelevel of importance to that value. The radio buttons 820 can be includedon each of the important digital images 235, or alternately can be shownonly when selects a particular image (for example, by moving a cursorover on a particular image or by clicking on a particular image).

In some embodiments of the current invention, the automatic selectionmethod used by the select important digital images step 230 can beupdated to preferentially select digital images based on historical userinput. This includes user input received for important digital images235 to exclude or include, as well as user changes to level ofimportance for important digital images 235. For example, the automaticselection method can be updated to preferentially select digital imagessimilar to any user-selected important digital images. Similarly, theautomatic selection method can be updated to preferentially excludedigital images similar to those which the user excluded. In someembodiments the automatic selection method may be based on weightedcomposition rules, and the weights of the method may be adjusted, basedon the historical user input. If the user chooses more face-basedpictures, or pictures of particular people or group pictures versusclose-up pictures, the weights of those particular composition rules canbe adjusted accordingly.

Although levels of importance are visually indicated by different borderstyles in FIGS. 7 and 8, indication of levels of importance can bedenoted in other ways, including, but not limited to, image size, starrating, heart icon or other denotations known by those skilled in theart.

FIG. 9 shows an example collage 900 that was created from thebest-in-set image 675, the emphasis images 665 and some of the otherimportant digital images 235 shown in FIG. 8. The best-in-set image 675is featured prominently in the center of the collage 900 with a largerimage size. In this case, the important digital images 235 having thehighest quality level (i.e., highest importance level) were selected forinclusion in the collage. In some embodiments other criteria may also beused, such as whether a particular collage layout requires landscape orportrait orientation images in particular locations. The collage 900 canbe printed and framed for display in a home, or can be used for otherpurposes such as for a page of a photo calendar. It will be obvious toone skilled in the art that the important digital images 235 identifiedaccording to the method of the present invention can be used to create awide variety of photographic products including, but not limited todigital slide shows, photo albums, photo calendars, mouse pads, coffeemugs or CD/DVD jewel cases.

While the examples herein have focused on digital image collections 200comprised of digital still images, the method of the present inventioncan also be applied to digital videos. In this case, the digital imagecollection 200 can be a digital video (or a collection of digitalvideos), and the video frames of the digital video can each be treatedas individual digital images. When the method of the present inventionis applied to digital videos, the identify similar images step 205 willtend to identify sets of video frames that make up individual sceneswithin the digital video. Therefore, it can be seen that the method ofthe present invention can be used to identify the video frames havingthe highest image quality within the longest scenes in the digitalvideo. The resulting selected important images can be considered to be“key frames” and can be used for a variety of purposes. For example,they can be used to form an index for a digital video summarizing theimportant scenes in the digital video. The index can then be printed(e.g., to be used as a cover for a DVD jewel case) or can be used toform a menu of selectable scenes that can be accessed using a DVD playerremote control.

A computer program product can include one or more storage medium, forexample; magnetic storage media such as magnetic disk (such as a floppydisk) or magnetic tape; optical storage media such as optical disk,optical tape, or machine readable bar code; solid-state electronicstorage devices such as random access memory (RAM), or read-only memory(ROM); or any other physical device or media employed to store acomputer program having instructions for controlling one or morecomputers to practice the method according to the present invention.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference tocertain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood thatvariations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scopeof the invention.

PARTS LIST

-   110 data processing system-   120 peripheral system-   130 user interface system-   140 data storage system-   200 digital image collection-   205 identify similar images step-   210 sets of similar digital images-   215 identify largest sets step-   220 largest sets of similar digital images-   225 evaluate image quality step-   230 select important digital images step-   235 important digital images-   240 store important digital images step-   300 graphical user interface-   310 digital image-   320 scroll bar-   400 graphical user interface-   500 graphical user interface-   600 graphical user interface-   610 graphical user interface-   620 graphical user interface-   630 set of similar digital images-   640 set of similar digital images-   665 emphasis image-   675 best-in-set image-   700 graphical user interface-   800 graphical user interface-   810 zoomed-in view-   820 radio buttons-   900 collage

1. A method for selecting important digital images in a collection ofdigital images, comprising: using a processor to automatically analyzethe digital images in the collection of digital images to identify oneor more sets of similar digital images; identifying one or more sets ofsimilar digital images having the largest number of similar digitalimages; using a processor to automatically select one or more digitalimages from the identified largest sets of similar digital images to beimportant digital images; storing an indication of the selectedimportant digital image in a processor accessible memory; and using aGraphic User Interface (GUI) for further evaluating the one or more setof selected important digital images to assess relative levels ofimportance. 2-31. (canceled)
 32. The method of claim 1 wherein thedigital images within a set of similar digital images have a similarvisual appearance, have a similar capture time, are captured within aspecified time interval, are captured at recurring time intervals, havea similar capture location, have a similar image classification, arecaptured sequentially.
 33. The method of claim 1 wherein an eventclustering algorithm is used to divide the collection of digital imagesinto event clusters, and wherein the digital images within a singleevent cluster are designated as a set of similar digital images.
 34. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital image is selectedfrom each of the identified sets of similar digital images to beimportant digital images.
 35. The method of claim 1 wherein the step ofselecting the important digital image from the identified largest setsof similar digital images includes: using a processor to automaticallyanalyze the digital images in the identified largest sets of similardigital images to determine an indication of image quality; andselecting one or more digital images to be the important digital imageresponsive to the determined indication of image quality.
 36. The methodof claim 35 wherein the digital image in each of the identified largestsets of similar digital images having the highest image quality isselected to be an important digital image.
 37. The method of claim 35wherein the digital image in each of the identified largest sets ofsimilar digital images having the highest image quality is selected tobe an important digital image, except that if the digital image havingthe highest image quality has an image quality less than a predeterminedthreshold it is not selected to be an important digital image.
 38. Themethod of claim 35 wherein the digital images in the identified largestsets of similar digital images having an image quality an image qualitygreater than a specified threshold are selected to be important digitalimages.
 39. The method of claim 38 wherein the specified threshold isadaptively determined such that a specified number of important digitalimages are selected.
 40. The method of claim 35 wherein the imagequality is determined responsive to computing an aesthetic image qualitymetric.
 41. The method of claim 40 wherein the aesthetic image qualitymetric is responsive to the presentation of any faces detected in thedigital image.
 42. The method of claim 35 wherein the image quality isdetermined responsive to one or more quantitative image attributes. 43.The method of claim 42 wherein the quantitative image attributes includean image sharpness attribute, an image noise attribute, an imagecolorfulness attribute or an image contrast attribute.
 44. The method ofclaim 35 further including the step of identifying one or more personswithin a digital image, and wherein the image quality is determinedresponsive to whether the identified persons have a known socialrelationship to a reference individual.
 45. The method of claim 35wherein the image quality is determined responsive to utilizationpatterns for the digital image or is determined responsive to auser-designated rating.
 46. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifiedlargest sets of similar digital images are presented to a user on a softcopy display, together with an indication of the selected importantdigital images.
 47. The method of claim 46 further including a userinterface to enable the user to confirm or override the selection of theimportant digital images.
 48. The method of claim 47 further includingupdating the automatic selection method used to select the importantdigital images to preferentially select digital images similar to theuser-selected important digital images.
 49. The method of claim 1wherein using the GUI comprises identifying a single image or a collageof a selected number of the highest quality digital images for the coverof a photo album or DVD case, identifying which digital images are to beemphasized or displayed larger in a photographic product produced usingthe selected important digital images, identifying which digital imagesare to be used as navigational icons in the GUI for browsing the digitalimage collection, clicking on a particular digital image to toggle itbetween being included or excluded from the set of important digitalimages, or using elements to visually distinguish between levels ofimportance.
 50. The method of claim 49 wherein the GUI element comprisesa dashed rectangle to indicate emphasized images, a double rectangle toindicate a best-in-set image, an image size, star rating, or heart icon.51. The method of claim 1 wherein using the GUI comprises providing asequence in which the important digital images are displayed is based onrank order of importance, time, themes, or a user vector of metadata orproviding a set of radio buttons that can be used to change the level ofimportance of a given important digital image, wherein a user can clickon the radio button of the desired level of importance to set the levelof importance to that value.
 52. The method of claim 51 wherein theradio buttons are included on each of the important digital images orwherein the radio buttons are shown only when a user selects aparticular image.